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Anyone else think cars are de-evolving?

I may have different priorities in cars than you do, but in the almost 40 years I've had cars, each newer one has been better than the one before.

True with me.

I do prefer not to have a stereo in my car. Why?

1) Theft
2) I pay greater attention to not being a 2000-pound projectile uncontrolled
3) I don't mind a bit of old-school performance (much like vintage audio in that regard), just not getting left stranded

Werd. :D
 
heh. apropos of this thread... I had a run-in with a tire pressure monitor this morning on my way down to MA from NH :-P

One tire 2 psi softer than the other three... so it was right... technically.
 
Blind spot warning, automatic braking, adaptive steering, whatever else they keep putting on cars. These are all features that are unnecessary if you just pay attention when you drive.

This.

Sorry, but when you're operating a 2000+ chunk of metal and plastic at 50+ mph or better, I think you need to be focused somewhat on driving. I'm old school and think that a lot of these "aids" are actually making us less safe as folks are becoming more dependent on the car driving itself and less focused on their obligation to operate it properly.

4WD is an excellent example as we all have seen folks flying by in the snow and rain going WAAAAYYY faster than they should in their 4WD SUVs only to find out that 4WD isn't 4W STOP. I suppose they blame that on faulty ABS, eh??? :rolleyes:

Cars are better now that back in the day by a long run, but this current trend to make up for lack of driving skills and good judgement is very disturbing to me.

We need drivers to pay attention, and be skillful in driving their vehicles, not more of this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CId-uAr34rg
 
This is probably threadcrapping, but why is it some posts (like yours) go off the screen so that I have to keep scrolling to read them. It's not so bad when they're short, but yours is pretty long albeit well written (which is to say that it's not a big unbroken block of text) so that I just skim it.
Not sure, I have a much higher resolution than I imagine most people (2560x1600) so I'm liberal with creating paragraphs so I don't create giant blocks of text. Might have something to do with how it's formatted from my page. I let it word wrap so I'm guessing because it didn't word wrap on my screen it might force the width to be wider for everyone else viewing the thread.

SUVs seem the prime offenders of these measures to pay less attention when driving. They're almost always what I see all these features plastered on, usually showing someone driving and turning around to fuss at their kids or something and not looking at the road. I guess appealing to the primary buyer who generally are women (Never have figured out what they find appealing in them, personally I hate SUVs) and have a child. At my university I see way too many girls staring down at their phone texting while they drive or driving with headphones on...idiotic (If you want music, turn on your radio in the car not your headphones where you can't hear anything around you). Don't know when sedans became inadequate for being family vehicles, still seem just fine to me. I've known a few people who have nearly been killed by drunks or careless SUV drivers, and some have been hurt real bad. There's entirely no reason to drive a 4000+ lb box on wheels when you're the only one in it and you drive around suburbia. Always found the "Sport" part to be an oxymoron. They sure think they drive a fast car, I could be going 85 in a 70 and there will be someone in an SUV behind me weaving on the line wanting me out of the way so they can pass me going 95.

Sorry for the soapbox rant, but that one just pisses me off. More on topic, I couldn't ever really go back to the era before airbags but I'm not sure I even want any of the newest stuff. Anything appealing to me seems to universally start at $30k or so and is generally from Europe or Japan. Domestics just aren't that appealing to me in general anymore. Build quality, design, features, honestly I don't see what they offer anymore. They aren't even cheap anymore which is even sillier to me. Definitely a different market than 30 some-odd years ago for sure. I would love to have seen the hayday of American car makers back in the '60s and '70s. The new Cadillacs seem nice but they're in the BMW/Mercedes/Volvo price point and despite their much better looks, I still think those imports are some fine looking and sounding cars.
 
Yep- my car is devolving by the minute :)

Tomorrow I've got to look at the brakes- they stopped working on my way home. :(
 
This car foretold the future.
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The future is here now.
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SUVs seem the prime offenders of these measures to pay less attention when driving......

Christ, another priggish anti SUV tirade, right out of the urban transplant play book. This also gives you the opportunity to parade you supposedly superior virtue because you're not simply expressing the opinion that you don't want one, you're saying others are wrong for wanting one. Who are you to decide what people should drive? Play the finger wagging schoolmarm for someone else.

I can picture you in Boston in 1700 as the usher in a Puritan church who patrols the aisles with the long handled head knocker, to wake those who sleep during the sermon.
 
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Build quality? Please. The US makes have made some pretty solid cars for quite awhile. I've seen and owned some Japanese, Korean, and one German car over the years that are nothing special, certainly no better nor worse than American steel. Again, I would put my old Regal up against anything made during that time period, and still get as many miles, just as comfortably, and with a far less invasive repair bill.

Please.
 
heh. apropos of this thread... I had a run-in with a tire pressure monitor this morning on my way down to MA from NH :-P

One tire 2 psi softer than the other three... so it was right... technically.

Yep. Run into this w/LA's Touareg all the time..GREAT car, LOVE it, but it is SO "German"..."You VILL do things der vay I vant you to, or I VILL "Bong !" at you und driven you CRAZEE.."
 
Not sure, I have a much higher resolution than I imagine most people (2560x1600) so I'm liberal with creating paragraphs so I don't create giant blocks of text. Might have something to do with how it's formatted from my page. I let it word wrap so I'm guessing because it didn't word wrap on my screen it might force the width to be wider for everyone else viewing the thread.

SUVs seem the prime offenders of these measures to pay less attention when driving. They're almost always what I see all these features plastered on, usually showing someone driving and turning around to fuss at their kids or something and not looking at the road. I guess appealing to the primary buyer who generally are women (Never have figured out what they find appealing in them, personally I hate SUVs) and have a child. At my university I see way too many girls staring down at their phone texting while they drive or driving with headphones on...idiotic (If you want music, turn on your radio in the car not your headphones where you can't hear anything around you). Don't know when sedans became inadequate for being family vehicles, still seem just fine to me. I've known a few people who have nearly been killed by drunks or careless SUV drivers, and some have been hurt real bad. There's entirely no reason to drive a 4000+ lb box on wheels when you're the only one in it and you drive around suburbia. Always found the "Sport" part to be an oxymoron. They sure think they drive a fast car, I could be going 85 in a 70 and there will be someone in an SUV behind me weaving on the line wanting me out of the way so they can pass me going 95.

I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, I suppose it is one's right, but it just seems outlandish when I have to drive as defensively in my Miata or my CRX as I do, thanks to Miss Soccer Mom and her Excursion (which weighs in at 8800 pounds)

Christ, another priggish anti SUV tirade, right out of the urban transplant play book. This also gives you the opportunity to parade you supposedly superior virtue because you're not simply expressing the opinion that you don't want one, you're saying others are wrong for wanting one. Who are you to decide what people should drive? Play the finger wagging schoolmarm for someone else.

I can picture you in Boston in 1700 as the usher in a Puritan church who patrols the aisles with the long handled head knocker, to wake those who sleep during the sermon.

While you may have had a point, how are you taking any kind of high road with your elaborate insult? Your reply was no better than his.

This kind of heavy-duty policing of every single comment on every SINGLE thread is starting to make AK a very sterile and non-fun place.

While a bit overstated, the man has a point. It is every.....single.....day...that I have to dodge these type of drivers. It gets old, and makes one afraid to commute.

Please, people, if someone makes an offhand comment, let it go.
We're all friends here. :yes:
 
You know the gauge is actually looking at the tire diameter. It can tell based on how long it takes to go around. It has to do with the anti-lock brake circuit - a less inflated tire will not grip as well. That is how it works on my VW, anyway.

I wish my wife had this system on her 2001 Volvo, then I would not have to constantly remind her to check her tires (she never does).

Those were the old-school sensors AFAIK :-) Our son's 2004 Freestar minivan (the "Battlevan II") is so-equipped. I learned this empirically - at one point, the "Tire Pressure" warning would pop up after driving for a while... pressures were all fine... but... one wheel was smokin' hot! One of the brake calipers was seized and stuck "on" :-( The differential wheel rotation was duly noted, and misdiagnosed, by the ABS system.

The Fiesta actually has the little in-tire RF pressure transducer thingies, one in each wheel adjacent (if I understood the manual correctly) to the valve stem. AFAIK these actually do measure pressures. On some (i.e., more expensive!) cars, the actual pressure reads out (or "may be read from") a dashboard display.
 
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I don't understand people who use giant trucks for family hauling and grocery getting. I grew up with a station wagon and it worked just fine. Trucks are for work. They cost more to feed, maintain, register and insure than a car does. If you use one to take your kids to soccer or get groceries you're punishing your wallet.

Even if you're tall you still don't need the extra room a suburban or excursion provide to fit into a vehicle comfortably. The "I'm a big guy" excuse just reeks of somebody whose never tried a smaller car. My father is a big guy and when he has to travel he leaves his Mercedes Sprinter parked up at him and takes a little Mazda. Unless he has to haul a load.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 
... Even if you're tall you still don't need the extra room a suburban or excursion provide to fit into a vehicle comfortably. The "I'm a big guy" excuse just reeks of somebody whose never tried a smaller car. My father is a big guy and when he has to travel he leaves his Mercedes Sprinter parked up at him and takes a little Mazda. Unless he has to haul a load.

Quoted for truth. My oldest son stands 6'5". He fit comfortably into my 1999 and 2000 Mercury Sables, neither of which had a power moonroof, and he fits comfortably in his current daily driver, a 2013 Ford Fusion.
 
You know the gauge is actually looking at the tire diameter. It can tell based on how long it takes to go around. It has to do with the anti-lock brake circuit - a less inflated tire will not grip as well. That is how it works on my VW, anyway.

I wish my wife had this system on her 2001 Volvo, then I would not have to constantly remind her to check her tires (she never does).

Yes you have the indirect system above .There are 2 basic types indirect that measures wheel rotation and direct sensing that reads individual tire pressure at each wheel in real time from a sensor usually located inside the tire
in the bottom of valve stem earlier ones were strapped into the wheel drop center or aftermarket external ones atop the stem.
TMPS was mandatory on < 10k lb vehichles in 2007 in US. The 84 corvette was one of the first US cars with direct sensors about the size of a cigarette pack clamped into the wheel drop center with a long stainless band clamp .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire-pressure_monitoring_system
 
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Christ, another priggish anti SUV tirade, right out of the urban transplant play book. This also gives you the opportunity to parade you supposedly superior virtue because you're not simply expressing the opinion that you don't want one, you're saying others are wrong for wanting one. Who are you to decide what people should drive? Play the finger wagging schoolmarm for someone else.

I can picture you in Boston in 1700 as the usher in a Puritan church who patrols the aisles with the long handled head knocker, to wake those who sleep during the sermon.

Thanks for making me spit my coffee on my keyboard Tom! :lmao:
 
I wish they would de-evolve some more. I want a small pickup with a 4 or 5 speed manual transmission, no toys (hand-cranked windows are fine and an air conditioner would be nice). No GPS, nothing that talks or listens. 4 wheel drive required. I can't find anything like that on the US market, although most of the world can buy them. I suspect if anything like that shows up here again, it'll be Chinese.
 
...

I can picture you in Boston in 1700 as the usher in a Puritan church who patrols the aisles with the long handled head knocker, to wake those who sleep during the sermon.

1700? When I grew up in the south in the 1950's, those were still standard issue for Baptist church 'ushers'. I'll bet they still use them there. That's a church that doesn't get many update notices.
 
I like newer cars, though at the price point they're at now, I personally will not be buying a NEW one again. (No judgement on those that can afford them and do buy them)

Consistently better tires, brakes, suspensions, body cages, fuel and emission management controls, along with constantly improving safety features all fall into the PLUS column IMO.

One thing I do not like, nor understand, is the fascination with touch screen controls. In an age where it's pretty well documented that texting/operating a mobile device while behind the wheel is dangerous, how is a touch screen built into the vehicle any different? In the past I remember some of the better control schemes in automobiles allowed you to operate controls by location and feel (knob shape) so you did NOT have to take your eyes off the road to operate them. That made sense to me.

Also, I have mixed feelings about vehicle illumination. For those operating newer vehicles it's probably a real improvement. For those of us facing them at night, there's a huge amount of glare that creates a hazard IMO.

One problem brought to my attention. Increased dependence upon computer controls increases possibility for vehicles to be hacked and controlled externally.

Cars should continue to evolve. But I think we (buying public and manufacturers) need to carefully choose what actually makes sense.
 
I don't understand people who use giant trucks for family hauling and grocery getting. I grew up with a station wagon and it worked just fine. Trucks are for work. They cost more to feed, maintain, register and insure than a car does. If you use one to take your kids to soccer or get groceries you're punishing your wallet.

When we needed a second car in 2006 I bought a new F-150 stripper because it cost me less than 14K, that's right, under 14K ( not including the trunk lid and step bars). It was comfortable, a nice highway cruiser and carried a pair of Model 19s home from Maryland. I found it far preferable to any new car for the same money. it did not cost more to maintain, register or insure than a car. It did cost a little more to feed.

Trucks are not necessarily for work, they're for whatever their owners decide they're for. You let me worry about my wallet (my money clip actually, over 50 years ago my Dad taught me to not carry a wallet. :))


 
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